POLL: Do you buy movies in iTunes?

“The Dark Knight” is available for purchase on iTunes. It’s $14.99 on iTunes, and $14.95 (this week only) at Wal-Mart. I thought about buying it today when I was walking through the store, but I decided against it. Then I thought about buying it again when I got home, and decided against it again.

I’m not sure why, I think it’s primarily because neither the DVD nor the iTunes movie are in HD – and I really want this film in HD. Having said that, I refuse to purchase a Blu-Ray player because I don’t like the format. I am not paying $30 for a movie, HD or not. At that price I’ll just rent and be done with it. I also honestly don’t think the format is going to survive. I think Blu-Ray will be the laserdisc of this particular generation, and I fully expect digital downloads to make their way into HD territory sometime in 2009.

Having said ALL that – it got me wondering if any of you download movies off of iTunes. I’m talking about purchases here. I rent movies occasionally, but I have yet to purchase a film. For me the reason is HD – if you haven’t, I’m curious as to why you haven’t – and what would make you do it.

If you are buying movies off iTunes, why? What do you like about that, and is it your primary way of purchasing movies? Do you prefer it to DVDs?

Comments

It has to be a really good movie for me to want to buy it at all… If it’s an older movie I may buy it in iTunes. If it’s something like Iron Man or Dark Knight, I want it on DVD, mainly for the special features. (then I can just use handbreak to make myself a digital copy)

I do not like to fight with the DVD packaging. I do not like to have to skip 4 and more previews and commercials to reach the main menu, then to wait for several copyright and other legal claims to finally reach the movie. I had some bad luck with DVD not working anymore after some time. The bonus features on DVDs are normally just some extended commercials. The only movies were the DVDs are way better than the iTunes version are the Lord of the Ring extended cut movies. They come with real bonus material (4 DVDs per movie).

Movies from iTunes are way easier,just click and watch. If the file get corrupted just restore it from the backup. I use Apple TV and the movies look great on my 52 inch TV (standard resolution movies).

I do not buy any DVDs (or BlueRay) anymore. If it is not available on ITunes I do not buy it. In the last 6 weeks I bought 6 movies from iTunes.

New releases like Iron Man Cost $23.99 for the DVD here in Canada for just the one disk. Extras and extended play range from $28.99 to $36.99. The iTunes cost was $19.99. Those extras are not worth the extra $4 to $17 that we are charged. Add the convenience of having it ATV and iPod ready and it makes a lot of sense to use iTunes here.